Recently, a wireless function such as a mobile phone is built in an information terminal such as a laptop computer and is used for exchanging information externally. The global system for mobile communication (GSM) is a mobile phone system used widely overseas, except Japan, such as in Europe, Asia and North America. A feature of this system is to separate a mobile phone terminal and an operator by using a subscriber identity module (SIM) card. In this system, when a user purchases a mobile phone, he/she selects first a mobile phone (terminal) and then selects an arbitrary company as the operator to be used.
At this moment, the operator issues an IC card called the SIM card in which the subscriber information (telephone number) is written. The user contracts with an arbitrary operator, and receives the SIM card, loads the card into the mobile phone terminal, and has the terminal ready to use immediately. If using a different terminal, the user exchanges the SIM card, and the other terminal can be used with the same telephone number. The user, upon having another SIM card issued by another operator, can select plural operators for one terminal.
The SIM card contains the telephone subscriber's right, and thus, if stolen, the card may be used illegally. If incorporated in the device, the SIM card may be rarely stolen. However, for the type of usage where a card is selected from plural SIM cards, and is removed from one terminal and inserted into another terminal, it must be easy to insert and remove the card.